Who Ya Gonna Call?

Schools do not consist of students and teachers in isolation. To be effective, teachers have to know when, who, and how to ask for help. Sometimes, the first place a teacher goes for help doesn't work out, and the teacher has to come up with a "Plan B." Use what you've learned in Chapter 5 of Johnson et al (2008) to formulate some approaches to solving problems that teachers often experience.

Leaders, Stakeholders and Other Resources

List people that can possibly help you be an effective teacher.

	Abbreviation		Leader/Stakeholder/Resource	Place on Policy to Practice Continuum (School, District, Community, State, National, etc)	What are they responsible for, i.e. what part of schooling are they likely to be concerned with?	Describe nature of their relationship to the teacher, other stakeholders
1	PR	Marisa & Serena	Principal	School	The principal is in charge of the school. In law the principal is the final authority at the school. The principal speaks to the district and superintendent in order to know what the standards are for the district. The principal then applies those rules and regulations to their school and makes sure that all of the staff is working in the correct manner and following the standards in order for the students to succeed.	The principal's relationship with the teacher is being the leader, also known as the boss. The principal explains to the teacher all of the rules and policies they must follow to fit the school's standards. A new approach called site-based decision making has come into action and permits an individual school within a district to be more involved in decisions related to the educational operations of that school, which permits principals, teachers and parents to become more involved.
2	AP	Holly & Pam	Assistant Principal	School	The assistant principal is responsible for helping the principal with different administrator rolls. In elemntry school they are with the principal at all times and they share the administrator rolls. In high schools, the assistant principal has its own administrator rolls. An assistant pricipal also over sees what the principal can not because he is only one person.	The assistant principal should have a close relationship with teachers, and everybody else in the school.
3	CS		District Curriculum Supervisor
4	DH	Matt G & Ariana	Department Head/Team Leader	School	The department head is responsible for overseeing all teachers and lessons that are taught within their department. Department heads need to be concerned with how effective, prepared, and enthused the teachers are as well as how the lessons are constructed and conducted in the classroom. They also need to be aware of how the students are reacting to the teacher and the lesson to see if any improvement or altering can be made.	The relationship between the department head and a teacher should be close because both are teachers with the same goals of getting their students to succeed as well as make improvements in the classroom. The department head should also have a close relationship with other stakeholders such as other department heads, administrators, etc. so that collaboration of lessons/topics and overall achievement can be noted and improved upon.
5	SB	Andrea & Arly	Substitute Teacher		The Substitute Teacher is constantly put into a difficult situations. Being thrown into a classroom of students who already know what is going on, and how the class is run, tends to make it hard for the teacher to gain control over the students. The Substitute Teacher has to adapt to the lesson plans that the teacher had left for them.	The relationship between the Substitute Teachers and the Stakeholders is one that is complicated. There is usually an element of thanks, due to the Substitute Teacher taking over for the teacher for a period of time. There is also sometimes an element of confusion due to what the Substitute Teacher had taught the class on that day as well as reports back to the teacher about how the class had behaved that day.
6	SS	Ellen & Sean	School Secretary	School	The school secretary basically makes sure the school is running basically. They handles all incoming and outgoing with the principal. They deals with phone calls for teachers and has to be responsible for students if parents or teachers need them. They also handle the organization of the school to sum it up.	The secretary's relationship is a very unique relationship because the teachers have to respect them because they are valuable in a school and they can make your life a lot harder. The secretaries deal with a lot of the teachers messages and other important needs so the teachers and secretaries must have a good relationship so that they can help each other out.
7	CN	Dan & Max	Custodian/Building Engineer	School	Maintenance, cleaning, trash, order supplies, building engineer, and become cool with students, faculty and staff.	They should have a mutual respect for the custodians and teachers must uphold their part of the relationship
8	TR	Chelsea & Eric	Colleagues, other teachers.	School	Responsible for instruction of students, supplying them with knowledge and skills for future, and motivating them to learn. Likely to be concerned with their success.	Staff relationship with TR, CN, SS, etc. Line relationship with other stakeholders (PR, CS, DH, etc.). Distinction sometimes unclear: teachers have more independence in profession.
9	ST	Danielle & Sarah	Students at large	School and Classroom	The students are responsible for their own education. They are most likely concerned with socializing with their peers, but most students are also concerned with their grades and education.	The relationship between a student and a teacher should be relatively close. The students need to be able trust the teacher and be comfortable enough to ask questions and express their concerns.A student should not feel shy to talk to their teacher about any personal problems they are having. Students are not really close to other stakeholders such as the department chair and District Curriculum Supervisor.
10	PL	Courtney & Liz	School Police Officer	School and community	School and student safety, monitoring illegal activities, monitoring fights and violence in the building, strangers in the building, law enforcement in the school, monitoring student activity	The School Police Officer has a very close relationship with the principals, administration, teachers and staff and students of the school. This is necessary because the people in the school need to be comfortable with the police officer so they can contact them with any problems. The officer needs to be approachable yet stern.
11	SP	Caroline & Jessica L	Special Education Coordinator	School	Advocating for students for special needs to other school faculty, designing, implementing programs (i.e IEP) and ensuring that the program is having a positive impact, maintains confidential records of students	Relationship should be close- SEC will communicate closely with teachers to inform them of the special challenges faced by special needs students, advises the teacher on how to handle situations and what programs should be utilized to aid the student.
12	SB		Student government officers
13	GC	Stephanie & Kim	Guidance Counselor	School	The Guidance Counslor is responsible for being a guidence to the children. What I mean by that is the guidance counslor is there when a student needs help, weather its with problems inside of school (classes, teachers, other students, homework, etc.), but not only problems that go on in side of school but also problems outside of school weather its family issues, or anything else outside of school. For example if a student was not doing so well in a certain level in a class, the guidance counselor would try there best to do what they need to do, inorder for the student to succeed.	The Relationship between the Guidance Counselor and the teacher should be a strong relationship. Becuase the teacher is the person who spends the most time with the student. The teacher is the person who grades each student, and sees when they have there bad days. So a Guidance Counselor could always go to a teacher to find out information about the student, like how is the student doing academically, or how they are doing based on there behavior. And the couselor can take the opertunity to sit down with the student and the teacher if the student is having problems with there work. The Guidance counselor should also have a close relationship with the students parents, just to sometimes keep track of what goes on in the family, or whenever the counselor has to talk to the parents about how there child is doing in there classes.
14	MC	Jessica B & Conner	Media Specialist/Librarian
15	SW	Abby & Alysa	School Social Worker
16	PTA	Nate & John	Parents	School, District and Community	Parents are responsible for the well being of their children. As a result, they are responsible for them arriving to school on time and leaving on time. Parents also should push their kids to be involved in extracurricular activities whether that be in sports, clubs, or intramurals. Parents should always be involved in their child's education.	Parents and teachers should have a close relationship because their goal should be the same: to educate children to help them develop and enhance their future. However, sometimes the manners by which this is done can cause conflict between parents and teachers. Parents expect their children to receive the best education possible when this might not necessarily be possible because of lack of funding or even an incompetent teacher. Despite these challenges, parents and teachers have to work together.

Classroom Situations, Opportunities, or Problems

Some situations that you might encounter as a teacher as listed in the table below. Decide whether you should ask for help, and determine what exactly you should ask. If appropriate, determine a Plan A and Plan B scenario.

	Names of Group Members	Situation, Opportunity, or Problem	Should you ask someone for help?	Plan A: (What will you ask who, and why should they help?) Use abbreviations for stakeholders listed above	Plan B: (What will you ask who, and why should they help?) Use abbreviations for stakeholders listed above	Issues to be considered/ Reactions?
1	Jessica B & Conner	Fight in hallway or classroom		Being an elementary school TR, it would be simple to break up the fight by pulling the children away from each other. After ending the fight, the teacher would sit the children down and sort out the issue verbally. Finally, the PR would be notified of the disturbance, which would be followed by some form of punishment carried out by the TR. At the high school level, it would be too dangerous to break up a fight unless the TR had some background in self-defense. They should notify the PR or PL to come break up the fight and subdue each student. The students would be brought to the PR's office where they would probably be suspended and sent home. The only other thing the TR might have to do is file a report on the incident since they were part of it.	Elementary: If there were too many kids involved in the fight, the teacher should call for the help of another TR or PR. Once the fight has been stopped and the children had been spoken to and punished, it would be best to send them home so as to not start another fight. High School: If the PR or PL is not around, the TR should not try and be a hero. They need to wait for some kind of power figure or experienced individual to help them. Once the fight has ended, the Plan B ends the same way as Plan A.	ssue: For an elementary school TR, it might ruin the student-teacher relationship that the two share. Issue: For high school TR, they could end up being physically hurt. Also, they could hurt the students if trying to break up the fight, which could end in assault charges on a minor.
2	Holly & Pam	Bring in culture for ESL	Yes.	I would ask the Principle if I could have a culture day and have kids bring in things that symbolize their culture and have a variety of food from each culture. I would also notify the janitor so that they know.	I would ask the principle about how to bring in another language to the lesson plan, so that everyone can understand what is being taught.	In this situation you would need to be aware of the students feelings, the parents' feelings, and allergies.
3		Not enough chairs in your classroom
4	Danielle & Sarah	Student w/ evidence of abuse	Yes	As a teacher I would first address the child asking where they maybe got their bruises from. I'd next contact the PR and AP to consult with them on contacting the child's parents to get details on why their child may have so many bruises. Maybe the child got in an accident and we just weren't aware, but if the parents refuse to cooperate I would then turn to plan B.	If the parents refused to help or get involved I would then turn to the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), to get them to investigate the child's living conditions and family matters.	In this situation you need to consider the child's and parent's feelings, making sure not to offend them in any way.
5	Courtney & Liz	Stranger in building	yes	As the school police officer, I first need to contact the stranger who entered the building without permission. This person could just be a parent who forgot to sign in the front office, so I need to first understand why they are there and make the rules clear. I need to escort the stranger out of the building to do this to ensure student safety.	If the stranger turns violent either on confrontation or before, as the school police officer I must make teachers aware of the situation so that they can help ensure student safety. I would alert the principal who would put the school in "lock down" mode where teachers lock the doors of their classrooms, turn off all the lights and sounds and gather their students away from the doors and windows. Students would remain silent to ensure that the stranger would pass the room without entering.	In the situation you need to be aware that the stranger could be violent and a threat to the lives of students and staff. You also need to make sure that a panic from teachers and students does not arise in the school causing a potential chaotic problem.
6		Extended field trip
7	Andrea & Arly	Heat is broken	Yes	Call the main office, speak to the secretary and ask him/her to page a janitor to your room. When he/she arrives, ask them to check out the heating situation, and see if it can be fixed. In the meantime, the students should be able to go to their lockers and get their jackets if they do not already have them with them.	If a janitor is not available, ask the administration if there is a room available, and if there is can your class be moved into it. Most likely something will be open, even if it is the cafeteria that is a better option so the students are not cold.	Issues: What if the janitor is not in, or cannot fix the problem that day? What if you cannot move to another room? Consider parents and students feelings about this, making sure there is somewhere for the students to go.
8	Marisa & Serena	Bomb threat		As the principal of the school, it is my responsibility to keep the children safe, therefore I would call the superintendent of the district and evacuate the students in a calm matter and then further investigate the threat.	If the threat is hard to determine and it seems to be crucial then as the principal i would evaluate the students and put them all on school buses and bring them to a local town hall until the threat has subsided.	In this situation, keeping the children calm is the most crucial point because if the kids are hectic, it will make the process much harder to handle.
9	Abby & Alysa	Rich kid harassing poor kid.
10	Chelsea & Eric	Boy harassing girl, or girl harassing boy	Yes	Send the children to the PR, explain situation. Problem resolved by PR speaking to children, peer mediation. Inform them that if problem persists, parents will be notified.	Have parent-teacher conferences with parents of both children. Inform them that if problems persist, suspensions will be implemented. Problem resolved by parent talking to child.	Issue: sending children to principal worsens problem because the bully suspects the other child told on him/her.
11	Stephanie & Kim	Big kid harassing little kid.		As the guidance teacher is my responsibility that each student is in the right direction with their school work and with their future. With this situation i would call the students teacher and ask about both relationship to each other. That way i can gain knowledge about each of them and ask the big kid why is he doing this to the little kid.	If the teacher would not give me information about how both students are performing in her class i would then ask both kids to give me a statement and give it to the administrator.	Issues: If this continues to happened the big kid could indeed be sent home for suspension and it would be bad because it takes away his learning.
12	Nate & John	Unfair teacher (colleague).	Yes.	As a teacher, I am going to want what is best for the children. If there is a teacher that has been spoken of that may be unfair, in her grading or anything, I would first go see the PR or the AP. The PR would most likely keep what I had to say confidential, so I would be able to tell him what kind of things my students were saying. If I had some kind of proof of her unfair grading, I would also give the PR and AP that as well, just as a justification for my meeting.	The PR and AP may not be available for such meetings, or for that matter, they may not be interested. A Plan B would simply be to visit the teacher. Telling her that some students said they had problems with her and then proceeded to show examples, might influence her grading and fairness. Talking to the students would also help as well, by pushing them to talk to the teacher more	You don't want to jump to conclusions about the teacher being unfair just because of student's words; don't want students' identities to be known; don't want to offend the other teacher or the principal, or waste their time.
13	Caroline & Jessica L	Slacker teacher	Yes in plan B	I would first attempt to talk to my co-worker. I would try to find out what is behind the problem, and offer support to help them do their job.	If the teacher has not responded to peer support, I would bring the issue to co-workers and department head for recommendation to address the issue to the principal.	Teacher may become offended. They could hold it against me for bringing the issue up. Maybe my other co-workers will not think it is necessary to tell the principal.
14	Dan & Max	Lack of teaching materials	Yes	As a teacher I would call the the custodian because they handle all school supplies within the building and they are also the building engineer.	I would then take my concerns to the main office and tell them that I have a lack of teaching materials.	Teachers and students should make sure that they just don't waste materials and put them to significant use.
15	Matt G & Ariana	Student project: Internet research	It would be practical to.	I would first ask another teacher (TR) about the project. If I was just starting with teaching, I would like to know some of the pros and cons other TRs had with a similar project. For example, some students may have trouble making a Works Cited page and if that problem is consistent with other teachers, I would have a mini-lesson on citing before hand. I would also seek advice on how to check for plagiarism since it is a rapidly growing problem in high schools. Since this is an Internet research project, it would be very easy for a student to plagiarize on purpose or even on accident if he or she doesn't know how to quote, summarize, and paraphrase information well.	If I did not receive adequate feedback or advice from fellow teachers, I would ask the department head (DH) about the assignment. After asking the same questions I would ask another teacher, I would also check that the project is suitable for the subject. I would not want to assign a project the DH deems unsuitable for the class I am teaching.	Issue: Some students may not have computers or the Internet at home. Solution: Schedule time in a computer lap or library so students can do their research there and I can oversee their work. Issue: Students may not know how to find credible online sources. Solution: Have the librarian show the students about the school's online databases.
16	Ellen & Sean	Unsafe room conditions	yes	As a teacher, If I knew that the classroom was in a unsafe conditions I would try to speak to the school janitor about what situation was in the room and if they could help solve the problem. They would be good help because they are responsible for these area, by keeping the school safe and well organize for all students to have a clean places to learned.There job is to repaired the building and cleaned the places.	I would then address the issues principal about what is going on and tell them about the situation in the room. To address my claim even more I would tried to take picture of the damaged area which seem to be the problem.	With these issue at stated first tell students about saturation and also ask the principle if it would be necessary if there could be a letters to parents addressing the issues about what is going on and what is being done about the